I wrote a post, not so long ago, about a return to genuine creativity.
However, this post is about what happens when creativity tips over into obscurity/utter bollocks, or the client signs off on something ‘cool’, but utterly irrelevant.
I’m talking about the SEAT TV ad that’s doing the rounds. This:
Let’s get straight to the bit that’s just irritating: ‘Because them’…’Us’.
Because them?? That’s just nonsense. How many of you want to put an ‘of’ between ‘Because’ and ‘them’?
But who on earth is the ad aimed at? It seems to be aimed at a young, liberal, free-thinking audience – juxtaposing cruel stuck-in-the-past fox hunting with a young bunch who ‘move forward’, and pitting supermarkets against wholesome organic/farmer’s markets… but the car shown at the end of the ad is a 4×4 family car. How many 20-somethings are going to buy that? And if they’re so liberal-minded, wouldn’t they consider it a ‘gas guzzler’?
Or is the ad just about SEAT overall, rather than the car shown at the end? I’m just not sure.
The whole thing feels like a contrived mess – trying to impose an image on SEAT as a brand, or the type of person who would buy one.
It’s notoriously difficult to come up with a good idea for a car ad, but I don’t mind – for example – the obvious Fiat ad that points out its features, I don’t mind the Suzuki ad which just shows off their range, and I don’t mind the Vauxhall ad which also just lists features (okay, it’s a little annoying).
At least those ads try to sell me a car, rather than some far-flung notion of the type of person I need to be to enter their showroom.
I’m not sure what happened with the SEAT ad, but I do know that the bleedin’ obvious wins Vs obscure nonsense, every time.